Sunday, May 2, 2010

What makes a scary game?

In an attempt to stop neglecting the blog, I've decided to bring up a topic that has often come up around the time of the "Tagged" video, scary games! When simple PMs had come along about them, I seemed to find myself being a lot more long-winded than intended in response. I know this post may have little to nothing to do with the videos on my channel, but this also isn't the first post I've made that talks about video games, so I figure it couldn't hurt to do another one every now and again.

Obviously I've been quite a fan of the scary games. Scary movies may have been around the longest, but I believe the true essence of fear and immersion has been mastered by video games. Nowadays, it's easy to watch a scary movie with how predictable and formulaic they've become. There's the camera angles that seem to give away what's about to happen next, the very stupid main characters who travel together and are marked for death by being sexy, stoned or comedic and of course the fact that these movies need to cling to jump out scares repeated to the point of sigh inducing. A movie normally isn't very entertaining to watch without multiple characters interacting with each other either, but a video game however, puts the player in the perspective of the protagonist, giving a game the edge in allowing him to be completely isolated and forced to rely on him/her self to survive. This is where a game can excel greatly in delivering the element of fear. The experience no longer is in the hands of the actors, but in the world around the player. In a video game if the world can draw the player in, piss poor voice acting can be excused, where as in a movie, if the acting is crap, it's going to take away most, if not everything from the presentation.

Unfortunately, and I don't know about you, but I'm starting to see scary games take the same path as scary movies where the designers just don't seem to be grasping the concept of real fear anymore. As times grew current, I'm starting to see a repeated pattern when new survival horror games come out. Back then, they truly got it right with titles like Resident Evil 2, Silent Hill 1 - 4, the Penumbra series, Fatal Frame, Condemned, etc. Nowadays, many of the newer titles like Dead Space and F.E.A.R 2 makes it feel like they've really lost their grip on the element of fear. I wish I had a bit more titles to give examples of, but unfortunately, the selection of current dated survival horror games are slim and none, probably to make room for more retarded, stale, realistic shooters with regenerating health and chest high walls to hide behind so companies can make a quick buck. Speaking of which, that's probably where the survival horror platform fell short, because game companies stopped trying to appeal to a certain audience and just tried to appeal more to the majority audience of instant gratification schmucks who hate challenges and can't stand not having a large gun in hand. I also get the feeling that companies have gotten so used to appealing to that majority, that when they try to make a scary game, they get stuck in the habit of giving the protagonist large weapons and armor to use. That's where the fear falls flat on it's face. With a suit of protective armor and a gun that blows the enemy apart, monster encounters become something to look forward to, so the fear of getting killed ruins the atmosphere of the game as well, leaving the game's only leg to stand on being jump out scares. That's where both F.E.A.R 2 and Dead Space suffered. The games didn't scare anymore, they only startled. I'm not saying either games were BAD by any means, they were fun enough, but still not scary because they lacked the stillness and atmosphere to make it properly scary. Basically, empowering the player and giving him too many things to shoot at takes away from the fear factor.

Now looking back at my all time favorite horror series, Penumbra, that's the kind of game that had me spazzing out every 10 minutes and minimizing the game so I can watch retarded YouTube videos to calm down. Then I'd regain the will to keep going and repeat 10 minutes later, especially since I always played it at night with the lights off. The thing that made Penumbra stand out was, you were trapped underground alone, helpless, desperate and you fought like shit. You were able to fight a bit in Penumbra: Overture, poorly at best, but in Penumbra: Black Plague, you didn't get a single weapon. Your only option was to escape the spaced out monster encounters through hiding and luring them into traps, otherwise, you were screwed. That, my friends, is how you pull off a true horror game. Put the player in the shoes of an average Joe, a more realistic character that didn't seem like they came out of a Hollywood movie and could beat ass while still being a skinny civilian. Next, make use of stillness in the game! Let the atmosphere and world around them scare the player too and when they do encounter monsters, the player should dread the encounter due to his lack of fighting skills and the fact that he can't find much ammo IF he were given a firearm. As for the monsters themselves, they should pose a true threat if the player attempted to go up against them.

So that, in a nutshell, is my opinion on a truly scary game formula. I'm hoping that developers don't keep up the bad habit of empowering players in a supposedly scary game and hopefully Frictional Games' upcoming title, "Amnesia" will set a nice standard on how to get the job done.

58 comments:

  1. I get where you're coming from with the whole "leave the power away from the player" idea. Making someone powerless indeed puts the fear in them. But I rather like to think that the fear factor is a person-by-person affair. What I get off on is psychological freakers. Things that are unnatural in such a way that they are grotesque and surreal. For example, Doom 3 was a slightly older title that relied not only on the traditional spooks, but on sheer grotesque, disgusting, and downright freaky imagery (loved the bit with the guy plastered to the ceiling with his entrails on display).

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  2. I get where you're coming from. How can you be scared when you're the worlds biggest badass, and can kill anything by sneezing. Alan Wake is looking kinda cool though might check that out

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  3. I am also greatly looking toward Amnesia! Penumbra is so awesome, but I can't play it very well. I've owned Overture since it came out and still haven't beaten it. I got to the first spiders (which is fantastic because I hate them in real life) and just can't get the nerve to kill/evade them.

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  4. I say that false power can make a game scary scarier like add a weopan that dos noyhing or has little ammo so they feel powerfull but are truly week

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  5. Metro 2033 "might" do..unfortunately I'm not a fan of scary games and Metro 2033's (Auto-Heal) system might turn you away...its more of a survival thing..
    Hmm...in Metro 2033 you'll find..

    - Prewar Machine-Gun ammo as currency for weapons and shitty ammo (10 rusty Machine gun bullets for 1 pre-war bullet)
    - An Auto-healing system
    - Lack of HUD details
    - Did I mention you need to check your watch for your gasmask duration?
    - Carry only 2 main weapons (Determines your Character type)
    Its more of a survival game I know, well I hope it helps :p..

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  6. You know thats a great topic. I for one love scary games. But im a true wimp when it comes to playing them. I am literly scared half of the time playing them. But you know im proud when i finish them. Ive played all the zombie games out there. And its getting less scary all the time. The best by far is resident evil or silent hill series. But the newer ones suck and its terrible because they dont scare me anymore. its like they want to not afraid and finish there game which sucks. Ive finished resident evil five and it only startled me once but thats it. But i dont have the willpower to finish the frist silent hill(after playing it for like 30 minutes XD)And plz, IF YOU WANT TO CONTACT ME wkendps2plyr@aol.com Becase i have some cool ideas for videos but cant make them cuz i suc lol.

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  7. I agree with all your points, however what also makes a scary game for me is what Xenowad already mentioned, the grotesque scenery. The sight of corpses twisted in a disgusting way, making you think "holy shit, there must be some awful creature that could do similar shit to me". Always created great fear in me.

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  8. One game that I think breaks pretty much all these forementioned rules is Aliens VS Predator (2000)
    Even though it's very old (made in 1999) it gave me the creeps when playing it, even when i night vision, radar, flares and big ass guns! The joke in it is that the radar makes this sound when it picks up something, so every time it bleebs, i turn around to the way the signal came from and empty almost whole clip of my machinegun! That is one bad ass game!

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  9. I agree on all accounts. Scary video games are beginning to lose their lustre, if anything they already have. The ‘jump-out-and-scare’ factor is becoming so predictable, the concept in itself doesn’t scare me anymore; it may startle me for all of 2 seconds, until I realize “Wait a minute... I’m totally over powered here! *smiley face, bang goes the monster*”, It’s becoming repetitive and mundane to the point where I just can’t play the game anymore. Over powering a character to the point of super human immediately erases any scare factor from the game, because you are removing the very aspect of the game that makes it scary! The feeling of complete subjection and isolation is what induces fear into the player. Take Silent Hill for example; Silent Hill 1-4 were THE best scary games I have ever had the Privilege to play. On all accounts, Silent Hill achieves that very sentiment of subjection and isolation, turning everyday objects and places into something grotesque and abstract was the most ingenious aspect the developers could have came up with. Just the atmosphere of a room was enough to make me abandon the controller, unlike the newer games such as F.E.A.R. 2, Silent Hill lived up to its name, possibly exceeding expectations for its creative use of stillness. I would hesitate before going round every corner, afraid that I might run into something. I found this especially haunting in the 2nd game; I’d dread every second hoping I would not run into Pyramid Head for the simple fact that you’re so subjected by him, he is impossible to kill. Those games that rely heavily on the sound of your machine gun munching away magazine after magazine and the erratic and displaced soundtracks smothering the sound effects, detracts and dethatches the game from any real feeling of fear. Silence trumps the machine gun, because silence is oddly one of the most intimidating things I have experienced in a scary game. Another issue arises from the involvement of soundtracks... We really don’t need any death metal or unusual variation of the Psycho theme going off every five minutes, the macabre jingles and haunting, rhythmic melodies crafted in the Silent Hill games brought an even more ominous atmosphere to the game, especially when in the presence of a monster. Silent Hill 2 introduced that concept to me, when descending into the prison, the petrifying wails coming from the door at the end of the hallway had me stopping at every step, afraid to descended any further, taking me roughly... 20 minutes to pluck up the courage to even open the door. Needless to say there was nothing on the other side XD. Again in Silent Hill 4, I would freeze instantly at the sound of wailing wall men, and due to the dodgy camera angles in all 4 games, the notion of “I can hear it... but I can’t see it!” made the games that much more successful. I’m a sucker for psychologically disturbing and mentally draining games such as the Silent Hill series that require the player to think outside the box, which brings about a higher level of involvement and commitment from the player, ultimately placing the player in the characters shoes. The way Konami encouraged me to be sympathetic, empathetic, fearful, angry and unnerved throughout each of their games was ecstatic. Hopefully, cross my fingers, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories will give me similar feelings, and unlock that sweet nostalgia within me for the hope that the world of truly scary video games is not just a distant memory.

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  10. I've actually been thinking about making a horror game. Sadly, i couldn't be arsed to make it in full 3D in a million years, but i was thinking either plain old 2D, or better, isometric 2D could probably work, especially if i get some fluid animations up in that motherfucker.

    So yeah. Thoughts, everyone.

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  11. Penumbra is a scary series, I only watched a playthrough of it and it still scared the heck out of me.

    Best game I played that still makes me cringe in fear and dread when I play it, is STALKER. There are some mutants I absolutely do not want to face in that game, and will do everything in my power to avoid regardless of what weapons I have. Human enemies are also pretty unforgiving on the hardest difficulty, though the AI isn't the best at time. Game really shines (and brings on the creep factor) when you're underground.

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  12. I find another element to a scary game is having a friend near by. Some can just ruin the game but others... the scare the living sh*t out of you. Say I'm playing Silent Hill or something. I'll be getting chased by some monster and I can stay calm, but if my friend dave is in the backround yelling "look out he's right behind you!!!. He's gonna cut your head off!!!" and then a f*cking retarded alien baby jumps out of a sewer i'm ready to sh*t my pants.

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  13. I'm not a big fan of Scary Games. In fact Bioshock 1 & 2 are the scariest I've played. But from what you're saying, Bioshock had one thing Fear and Dead Space are without.
    Bioshock was creepy. Not scary, but creepy. And what was worse was that you had intimating big daddies and moral decisions that messed with your mind.
    Bioshock's creepy factor was Huge. Hell, when you first find the medical ward you're greeted by a blood-stained picture. Then when you realize that everyone is a nut-job and you're pretty much fucked this get real creepy. The only things that saved it from being a scary game is the little sisters and the lack of a flash light. Also (as you said) having a few guns and a game-breaker wrench helps remove the scare factor. But Fort Frolic still is intimating.
    In other words, games need more blood stained corridors, low powered make-sift weapons, and stuff moving when you're not looking.

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  14. I think that fear is an art. In order to attain true fear you need to make the player afraid loosing something close to him such as were i came up with the idea of a game were your like a normal kid and you have a little brother but this is a zombie game, not a normal zombie game, so at the beginning your dad leaves for town and it would make you really get attached to the characters, thats when your dad calls and says something happed and you should get out of there as soon as possible, and your living in a farm house in the country and this is a very fogy place, you don't know were you are but you have your little brother with you and this game would have multiple endings. The game would have more of a mass effect approach with how you respond to the characters and you wouldn't talk, so really i messed up and made a more psycho fear game then a horror game. Crap! XD

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  15. As much as I hate those damn bugs in RE5, the Reapers, they do a damn good job of making you truly fear running into them. And the Lost in Nightmares DLC was great too, since one playthrough you'd run into the monsters in certain areas, only to have them scare the shit out of you when you play a second time to discover their appearances are randomized. And those catacombs on Veteran or Pro difficulty? Intense; made my heart drop when I saw I had one of them under the trap, and another one walking right at me (I got killed).

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  16. Well, I was about to post something about Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and how it relates to your post, but I don't think I can use spoiler text and I realize at least one person here has yet to play it. So no spoiler, but anyone who hasn't played it just don't read the rest.

    Shattered Memories makes use of the very thing you mention about being less than a match for your ghastly opponents. Unfortunately it takes it to the extreme and you cannot "kill" anything either. This makes the scenes where you must encounter them something you absolutely don't look forward to. I give it points for originality and it raised the hair on my neck in several parts. (And the UFO ending is the funniest thing ever) But still I wish it had been a bit more traditional as a Silent Hill game.

    But that genre is my favorite game genre. That said, I don't like "scary" movies for the reasons you mentioned and because I do not like a meaningless gore fest. I like creepy and the macabre. Survival horror games used to be good at that. It'd be nice to see something new I could get excited about.

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  17. there was that one game called siren, but it was kinda shitty. scary though

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  18. So what are some good game recommendations other than the ones already listed here?

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  19. dead space scares the hell out of me.

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  20. Boschitt i know what you mean but i have to ask you are you talking about Left for dead 1 & 2 if soo i understand if not it dont matter but i got to ask you are you going to make Episode 9 of Gmod Idiot box

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  21. REALLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY LOOLOLOLOOLLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLOL U SUC

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  22. ha, wouldn't it be insane for a game to grasp the horror of the old "Exorcist" movie... My dad was in college when the original one came out, and he knew someone who had to drop out of school because he literally could not handle it.... ugh

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  23. Exactly. This works well on Left for dead. You start out completely clueless, three other friends, and a zombie apockalypse. You only get a few guns, and ammo can run out well. I found it a challenge and couldn't get enough of it. I wondered what it would be like to be in a zombie apocalypse. It really took skill, and wits. Then Left for dead 2 came out and the only thing i was wondering was if I could really have a small chance of dying. Same with the set. Left 4 dead 1 was much darker, and more suspicious. Left 4 dead 2, I can see everything that dares to come at me.

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  24. Sorry but If you say Alan Wake looks like its different from Dead Space, its not.

    You can just shine your flash light to burn them. Seriously, I dont see whats scary about it. I personally havent played Penumbra but I have heard SO many good things about it I think I'm going to try it.

    Going to try to get a group of friends to do it with me, starting at 12 and see how long we can go without minimizing O.O

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  25. I'm a little confused as to why you chose Dead Space as one of your "not scary" titles. Of course, it doesn't hold a goddamn candle to Penumbra, at least by your description, and it certainly did make use of jumper scares, some of the best I've ever seen, IMO. However, you ultimately blow over Dead Space's amazing psychological factor, especially in the early parts of the game. You know, when your weapons were next to shit, you ran about as fast as a hippo with arthritis, and there were these crazy shits jumping out of the goddamn wall and you thought that was dead but its actually alive and LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU THERE'S THAT THING BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER BECAUSE IT'S HUMPING YOUR BACK NOW RUN. I have seen people who were literally too afraid to open doors because they weren't sure if something would slice their head off or not. Dead Space took the jumper scare and epitomized it into something amazing.

    There was also the fact that, in the first half of the game, you had very little to defend yourself with. Weapons, while effective, soon ran out of ammo and you either had to run away or hope to survive long enough to beat it's skull in with the blunt dead weight in your sweaty hands.

    However, I do agree that later on in the game, when you could have upgraded your plasma cutter into something able to take down several elephants at once, the game lost some of its luster in that you knew that you could probably kill pretty much anything the game threw at you...that is, until the game changes fundamentally with completely different enemies, some of which are unkillable by conventional means, others which sprout from walls and threaten to snap off your puny human appendages, and require completely new strategies. The game was a masterpiece of modern horror games, in my opinion; not quite the best, but definitely ranking WAAAY up there.

    Now that I've finished ranting, I will say that I completely agree with your other opinions, such as on F.E.A.R 2 and Penumbra, and with your idea of the decline in the horror genre and the blueprint of the perfect thriller.

    And that, gentlemen, is why a spork is classified as a deadly weapon in some parts of Namibia. Class dismissed.

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  26. I agree with the keeping the power out of the player but one of the things I do like in newer games is to have power, but to be surrounded by overwhelming odds or enemies. Something like Left 4 Dead, but scarier and without other players. You can get overwhelmed easier and even with your weapons can still fall prey easily to your enemies.

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  27. Not really a fan of horror games. Even the invisible guys that circle you before attacking in STALKER manages to scare me with their suprise attacks. :P
    I'd really love to play Dead Space but I know I'd pussy out within first 10 minutes , even watching videos of the game scares the shit out of me. The grotesque monster and screeching sounds reaaaaally scare the crap out of me.

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  28. A scary game is not all about how ugly they are, but to actually have the losing edge, and not able to actually take a gun and kill your enemies. It wouldn't be scary if you had the advantage. You should dread encounters and not look forward to them.

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  29. the worst thing about elements of fear in games is that you get used to them.

    so games (and movies) need to constantly come up with something new. old and proven concepts work, but not as much.

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  30. Dead Space was a tad scary for me, it had those elements in it but not enough of the time. Like the monster in it that you could not kill with conventional means and had to kill with the engines. Every time I encountered it and i started running I knew it was slowly coming up behind me and as I tryed to open the barrier in front of me and close it behind was probably the most scary thing I have ever experienced. So I think if they made a lot more moments like that and put it into the main game play not just those special encounter moments it would be an very scary game.

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  31. Another problem with movies is your lack of control. You can't stop the movie at the movie theater. You don't really have the choice to stop watching. You can just close your eyes and it will go away.

    However, in games, you can't close your eyes. Especially since your controlling a character. You have the choice to open that next door, which is much harder than having someone else do it.

    I can't play any scary games at all. Once I played Half-Life 2: Episode 2, I got into the big building, tower thing. I went until Alex told me to go turn something off. I went into this little air duct-like thing, saw a Stalker's face, hit esc, saved, quit, and haven't played it since. But what can I say, I'm 14 and I still don't like the dark.

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  32. i fell asleep playing doom3 4 some reason, i mean, i just wasnt even suprised at the little pop up monsters

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  33. altho some people critisise the good old jump out and boo technique, i think its a must for a game.
    the problem arises when used too much, a good scary game needs to have a mix of both cheap pop out scares as well as being able to immerse you into the game and build your anxiety and suspense.

    i love the dread of playing a scary games and getting to a part where u say to your self "man i realy dont wanna go down there" or "theres no way im going in that room" and you have to.

    Another technique(for lack of a better word) is the "Run for your life" moment, where all you can do is turn ur ass around and bolt and hope to god that whatever ur running from isnt about to catch you, if done right this method can in some cases cause a wet sensation in your pants. a good example of this is the old clock tower series, altho maby not so scary now, back then it scared the life out of me.

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  34. Even thogh ive played through it sooo many times Penumbra still freaks me out from time to time but im really want another freaky game to get i dont want another CoD or Halo i want a freaking scarry as s*** game

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  35. what was the song at 3:31 with the boomer in the idiot box episode 9? It doesnt seem to be on the list.

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  36. IMO a scary game needs a few things:
    -A sense of helplessness
    -A lack of control
    -A lack of security

    These may be considered as very similar things but they could be implemented in several different ways

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  37. MONKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY
    OH MONKEYYYYYYYY

    God I loved Black Plague, especially the end part with the vision. But then again anything made from the mind of H.P. Lovecraft is gonna be fucking scary.

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  38. hmm...
    i dont like scary games, really..
    i LOVE resident evil games, though.
    and F.E.A.R. 2 wasn't that bad, but then again, i dont play many scary games because, as i have said before, i dont like them. Dead Space looked good, and i've seen someone else play it, it looked more like a creepy strategy game just like some (or most.. or all) resident evil games are creepy and PUZZLE games.

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  39. I love horror games and it's not just scary games, it's also RPG's and all games that aren't chest-high walls with big guns.
    when's the last good dragon warrior game? or all the FF flops, or something good and new? I hope SW:TOR doesn't flop. it'll mark the end of new MMORPGs

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  40. maybe you should try vampire the masquerade:bloodline
    pros:the haunted hotel
    cons:it`s an old game and the company that made it [troyka] went broke.
    my tip is look at it on youtube to see what i mean.

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  41. I also agree how you mean that it`s not scary when you have a giant gun that can kill a monster/alien/zombie etc with one shot and being gi joe at the same time.

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  42. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  43. don`t want to sound like fgt or sob but what i meant by my first comment is watch the haunted hotel vampire the masquerade:bloodline on youtube.here is the url http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztXmBa6mgK8.it gave me night mares like no other stuff on youtube.

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  44. oh and the company is called troika.

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  45. Has anyone here played System Shock 2?

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  46. i heard of it [i heard it`s scary so i agree with you]

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  47. I was reading this post, He's right about most of what he is saying, and I gotta admit now that you mentioned it, the survival horror franchise is downsizing from it's lack of scary(ness) lol. Although there are great games out there, and one of them I've got to admit pissed my pants a little was the game "Amnesia the dark descent" if you don't know what this game is about, let me tell you. Your this british man (i think) named Daniel, that's all you know bout yourself (hence the title of the name) and you are stuck in this massive castle, trying to find your way out. In the beginning of the game, you read this document that you wrote about the upcoming monsters in the castle. The document was briefly talking about that he is not alone, and there is a monster patrolling the hallways of the castle (creepy eh? it get's worst) "you" also said that you have tried everything to destroy the monster, although you have failed, and all you can do is run, don't look back and hide, and pray that he doesn't find you. Basically this whole game is solving the puzzle and staying away from the monster. The moster itself is pretty scary if you ask me. First off when you know that you about to encounter the monster, you will hear the thing make a scary noise, which will make your heart pound, next you will see a tall pale figure approaching you, then when you get close a freakish low pitch screeching like music starts playing when it gets closer, then all you can do (if your manly enough to do this) is run away and hide in a dark corner hoping that it will not attack you. Otherwise most sissies would pause the game from the shock of encountering the monster, and trust me, it's one hell of a scary monster, its balled, it limps in a freakish way, its got 3 foot long spiky fingernails, and its 7 feet tall, and if thats not scary enough, just look at it's face for a descent amount of time, its eyes are beady yellow, and its mouth is gigantic and flat looking (in my opinion I think the mouth is what scares me the most) and it will be in your nightmares for a few days until you get use to the monster, and the game. One last thing barraccading the doors wont help either, and you must turn off all of the lights (creepier atmosphere) and you have absolutely no weapons to defend yourself. Have Fun! :)

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  48. I'm wondering if horror games must have monsters to be scary. I found Rainbow Six Vegas to be somewhat scary simply because your guy(Bishop)wasn't a whole lot mmore tough than the enemies that he's fighting and you know that as soon as you leave cover, you're going to die. Maybe a horror game could be done with someone who becomes a fugitive for no reason and is consantly being chased by teh armys.

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  49. Amnesia is the scariest game i've ever played.

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    1. Oh yes, that "Fatal Error: Renderer #0" stuff that it gives me scares the fucking shit out of me everytime. By the way,I will warn everyone, DO NOT GET AN INTEL COMPUTER THEY SUCK! They make their technology sound so advanced when it is in no way adequate for modern games. Get a computer with an AMD or Nvidia, not Intel though.

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  50. I wish horror games were more cerebral, I want to see the protagonists psychological terror, and how it warps his mind slowly until he becomes either a schizophrenic idiot with no grasp of reality, or a cold hardened psychopath that may be even worse than whatever caused his mind to warp and break.

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  51. The mods for Half-Life 1 "Afraid of Monsters" and "Cry of Fear" are really scary games. Even though you do get guns, you don't have much health nor do you regenerate it, the guns are somewhat under-powered and you don't get much ammo for them, and the atmosphere is just spooky. "Cry of Fear" also has some pretty good graphics by today's standards, even though it's on the GoldSrc engine.

    I kind of have to disagree with the "being an average Joe" thing in Penumbra. While the game was great and exceptionally scary, it lacks realism when it comes to the monsters. Granted this will probably come off as being a dill-hole, if you were actually being attacked by a dog and you had a pickaxe, you would smash your pick into the dogs head and kill it instantly, not use it like you do in Penumbra: Overture. As for Black Plague, if you need to defend yourself, you can turn almost anything into a weapon. For goodness sake, pick up a damn fork and stab the weird human thing in the eye! Unless they had superhuman strength, I'm pretty sure you could take down one of those things with any sort of tool.

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  52. Try playing "SCP: Containment Breach".
    The game is still in beta, so the graphics aren't too good, but the game itself is scary as hell.

    - Anxiety-inducing silence? check.
    - Paranoia-inducing monsters that silently stalk you when you're not looking? check.
    - Completely no way to fight back? check.
    - Vision-impairing darkness? check.
    - No one to call to for help? check.

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    1. I love that game, especially the way that there is no way to defend yourself or any friends at all. The only other humans you meet in the facility (that survive) are the MTF, who just beat the crap out of you with FN P90 machine guns. And the way how you hear the sounds of dripping water, gas hissing, all the things that would be normal scare the shit out of you. Probably the scariest thing is either:
      1. SCP-096
      2. SCP-106
      3. SCP-895

      They have updated it and the graphics are better, the game itself is scarier and now there are gate endings. The thing is, the gate endings are not 'good' in particular. Gate B gets you either blown up or gunned down, and Gate A gets you captured by the Chaos Insurgency. Overall, fucking amazing game.

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